May 26, 2013

Running an art gallery is a funny funny public exchange. I wish I wrote down every stupid thing that people have asked me over the years. Why do people insist on asking me "is this all your work"?
I mean first of all why would you assume that the girl behind the counter is the owner of the store.
But besides that, it's like, have you looked around? Do you really think my work could look like 12 different people at the same time, or better yet, do you think I would open this entire huge space just for my own self promotion? Yes lady, I work in 14 different mediums, sizes and genres. Some days I'm even much more talented than other days. I love landscapes and portraits but I also do abstract work, conceptual work, sculpture, collage, watercolor, etchings and paintings, and on the side I'm obsessed with lighthouses and old buildings.

That's just in the gallery. We also have a gift shop filled with retail merchandise from literally all over the world. They also ask me if "I do all this" too...

Here are some fun questions I've heard:
What is this place?
What do you do here?
So how does this place work?
Can you tell me if these are worth anything?
You're having a re-opening? A grand opening?
So you just sell prints here?
Do you do framing?

My all time favorite from my first gallery in 1999:
Does your father own the building?
I guess he was confused that a 25 yr. old girl wasn't home trying to have babies or something.

Boy, it's been a pip! It's sad that there are seemingly normal looking middle class people walking around this country who don't know what an art gallery is, an exhibition, an opening reception or an artist.

Here are a few tid bits: An artist does not do a little bit of everything under the sun and cannot draw you a picture of every possible thought in your head off the top of their head. An art gallery doesn't necessarily do framing or appraisals. A print is a copy, not an original. An opening reception is the start of a new exhibition, and an exhibition is when artists present their artwork to the public. We don't work for free and we don't all necessarily keep a collection of old nail clippings or shredded tissues under the bed, although some of us might! The original meaning of the word gallery is a room with a view where an audience sits at a performance. Examples would be the upper balcony of an opera house and an exhibition hall at a museum. We all know what a museum is right??'A gallery which sells artwork is still a room with a view, since its selling activity is based on exhibitions rather than simple store display. Such galleries generally specialize in innovative works of art by contemporary artists, antiquities, or even wearable art. Galleries attract collectors who are interested in buying unique or unusual aesthetic objects, rather than buyers of mass-produced functional objects.' In this case, we do a little bit of both but more importantly maybe I should've mass produced that flyer when I opened my second art gallery..

May 2, 2013

While painting the kitchen last week with my husband, every time he got wall paint on the ceiling or ceiling paint on the fixtures he'd say, Oh I messed up, I got cocky. It was the running joke of the day. I kept saying things like nobody likes cocky, and clean up your own mess!

Facebook seems to be a breeding ground for these kind of catch-all phrases. People are always posting sayings like "Find your peace", "Make your bliss", etc. etc. Recently I even came across a list of 42 "life is too short" lessons by a 90 year old lady from Cleveland.

If I were to make my own list, it would be simple, three words.

DON'T BE COCKY.

If you think about it, it really covers a lot of ground. Don't be cocky like my husband painting the kitchen, meaning, focus on what you're doing and don't get ahead of yourself. It encompasses things like patience, endurance, and a couple other morale boosters I can think of. It mostly involves staying humble and not getting too big for your britches. The thesaurus lists cool words like swollen-headed and hotdogger. Apparently my computer never even heard of that one 'cause it thinks I'm spelling it wrong.

When I think of the missteps I've taken along the way, I imagine those three words would've come in handy. Although hubristic sounds a lot more interesting, modesty and discretion go a lot further.

"It is six A.M., and I am working. I am absent-minded, reckless, heedless of social obligations, etc...The tire goes flat, the tooth falls out, there will be a hundred meals without mustard. The poem gets written... I have no shame. Neither do I have guilt. My responsibility is not to the ordinary, or the timely. It does not include mustard, or teeth. It does not extend to the lost button, or the beans in the pot. My loyalty is to the inner vision, whenever and howsoever it may arrive."Excerpt from Mary Oliver's essay Of Power And Time